I’m Headed to the 2016 Chef One NYC Dumpling Festival!

We love dumplings in my house. There’s a small Korean place on West 32nd Street in NYC called Mandoo Bar which my kids and I flock to a few times a year.  We also get them regularly at our local Chinese restaurant and I even buy them at Trader Joe’s every so often and make them at home.

Steamed, lightly fried. Filled with chicken, vegetables, meat, fish, potatoes, sweets or plain. Sweet, savory. Dipped in soy sauce. We can’t get enough of dumplings. After all, we live in a metropolis of foodies, so even at age 11 and 13, we kind of are dumpling foodies.

This weekend we’re going to fulfill our love for dumplings at  the 6th Annual Dumpling Festival, 13th Annual Dumpling Eating Contest  on Saturday, September 24th from 12-5pm at Sara D. Roosevelt Park at E. Houston St (next to Whole Foods Bowery Store), where we will witness a record-breaking “Dumpling Eating Contest” (the current record is 93 pieces in 2 min), a Giant Dumpling Cutting ceremony, a walking Dumpling Mama mascot, delicious food/drinks, live cultural performances (Yut and Hot Four, Lion dance), a Dumpling Making class, raffle draws and much more. The contest takes places between 1-3pm. This year the event is hosted by Youtubers Mike Chen and Dan Chen (Strictly Dumpling, Double Chen), and ESPN sports announcer Larry Hardesty (for only contest portion). Beverage sponsors are Bruce Cost Ginger Ale, Boxed Water, Harney & Sons. Major raffle prizes are a pair of Delta tickets, and a YEAR’S SUPPLY OF CHEF ONE’S DUMPLINGS.

$20 tasting tickets will entitle each holder to 4 tastings and entry into raffle draw. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Food Bank for NYC. Gotta love that.

There will be many vendors selling different types of dumplings. This year the theme is “There’s a chef in everyone” with dumplings provided by Chef One, founded in 1999, in a former brewery located in Bushwick Brooklyn. They produce 44,000 dumplings per hour in their Bushwick factory, using only fresh ingredients and no artificial flavors. Event booths are named after boroughs, and the menu will reflect that (vegetarian, vegan options available. They are also serving brand new flavors that will be sold in Shoprite and Freshdirect), so the festival is very NY-centric.

I hope to see you there – follow the fest at #Dumplingfest2016. I’ll be tweeting from there this weekend! And follow them on Facebook.

Also, check out this awesome recipe for Kung Pao Chicken & Dumpling Soup Recipe.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post but all opinions are my own.